He's the Reason
by drakien
Summary: Castle's keen observational skills prompt a late-night visit. No spoilers, but maybe some wishful thinking.


Title: He's the Reason

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. Certainly not Castle, or I'd have him chained to my bed.

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><p>KB-RC<p>

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><p>Rick Castle was nothing if not observant. As a best-selling author, he prided himself on being able to provide the tiny, seemingly insignificant details that made his scenes truly come to life. He studied his surroundings, immersing himself in the minutiae, so he could let his readers see the world he created through his eyes.<p>

One thing he particularly enjoyed studying was the homicide detective he shadowed. At first, he used the excuse of his books; he had to know everything about her if he was going to base a character off her, after all. Eventually, he found that he enjoyed watching her… she was like a giant puzzle that he could never quite figure out.

After he came back from the Hamptons, the fact that she and the rest of her team were royally pissed off at him was almost irrelevant; it was like seeing her for the first time. Her hair was longer, and she'd added some new clothes to her wardrobe. She had a new pair of earrings that she wore pretty regularly, and she'd changed the color of her lip gloss. What had changed the most, though, were her hands.

Beckett had never been one for exceptionally long fingernails, and it wasn't like she painted them all kinds of girly colors. Now, however, she kept them super-short at all times. He also noticed that there were times when she came to work and her fingertips on one hand were red. It took several months for him to make a connection… her fingertips were almost always red after a particularly hard case.

It wasn't until he went to her house and saw the guitar on its stand that he'd made the connection… she was channeling all of her anger and frustration into music, and her fingers were paying the price.

Satisfied that he'd solved another piece of the Beckett puzzle, he moved on to other things. He always watched her hands, though.

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><p>KB-RC<p>

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><p>It was her hands that had him standing outside her apartment late one evening with a bag in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. She opened the door at his knock, somehow unsurprised to see him.<p>

"I have wine and three flavors of Ben & Jerry's," he said without a hint of teasing.

She was sure she looked like a wreck, and wasn't even sure she was in the mood for company, but as she searched his face she found something there… something that she suspected had been there for a long time, but she was just now noticing. She stepped aside and let him in.

"You can only stay if one of those three flavors is chocolate," she warned.

Castle smiled, and in a somewhat unusual move wrapped an arm around her shoulder and hugged her briefly before moving towards her kitchen.

"I'm almost offended that you think I'd dare show up without it," he said airily. "I know my target audience very well, thank you, and she is _definitely_ not a vanilla kind of girl."

Beckett made a noncommittal noise and leaned on the door frame, watching him as he moved easily around her kitchen, pulling out two spoons, two wine glasses, and a wine bottle opener from various cabinets and drawers. With calm efficiency, he opened the wine and filled each glass, then stuck a spoon in each pint of ice cream. Picking up one pint and one glass, he turned and handed them to her. Chocolate Fudge Brownie… her favorite moping food. She wondered absently if he knew that already, or if he'd just taken a guess and gotten the chocolatiest thing he could find.

Picking up his own wine and ice cream (Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough), he guided her over to the couch. Setting his snacks on the coffee table, he snagged the bag again and pulled out a stack of DVDs. "Take a seat," he said. "I have 'Kill Bill' 1 _and_ 2, 'Die Hard', 'Tango & Cash', and 'Gladiator'," he said. "Pick your poison."

Beckett settled into the cushions, took a bite of ice cream and hummed appreciatively. "Die Hard," she decided.

Castle nodded and set up the movie before grabbing his own pint and wine glass and joining her on the sofa.

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><p>KB-RC<p>

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><p>"So you wanna talk about it?" he asked as the credits started to roll.<p>

"What makes you think there's anything to talk about?" she evaded.

Castle shot her a look. "The fact that you demolished a pint of ice cream and almost an entire bottle of wine might be an indicator. But what really clued me in?" He reached out and took her left hand in his own, lightly touching the raw pads of her first three fingers. Without letting go, he twisted and pulled one last thing from the bag beside the couch… a tube of Neosporin. He spoke as he dabbed some on each one. "You've never been so upset that you played enough to make your fingers bleed," he explained. "I thought maybe you could use a friend. Also, being the father of a teenage girl, I know that all emotional events require chocolate ice cream."

That brought a faint smile to her face, even as she tried to ignore the fluttery feeling in her stomach that had settled in as soon as he'd touched her hand.

The wine made it easier to talk.

"He um… he left again. Josh. Japan, to help out the aid workers. I couldn't ask him to stay, but I decided I was done coming second. So I told him I thought it wasn't going to work out, and that we should call it quits." She laughed bitterly. "He had the nerve to be angry; said a lot of hateful things that shouldn't have bothered me." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "But they still did."

Castle didn't say anything, just scooted closer and once more wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She didn't cry; all of her tears had been shed over the last two days. She did curl into him, letting her head rest on his chest, drawing comfort from the fact that he was _there_, and that she knew he cared about her.

They sat like that for a long time, just enjoying each other's company, before he finally spoke.

"Would you like me to write him into the next book and kill him off? Maybe torture him a little first? I'll even let you help write that part."

For the first time in three days, Beckett laughed.

She was going to be okay.

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><p>KB-RC<p>

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><p>AN: Well, I hope everyone enjoyed. If you did (or didn't), please leave me a review!


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